The Syfy show Halcyon will have 5 episodes made for VR about the VR saturated world of 2058, along with the 10 episodes made for standard TV. So far the only VR version announced will be for Oculus Rift, I am hoping they port it to Google Cardboard before the release date so everyone can watch it. No word yet on when the show will air (at least that I found), nor was I able to locate an on-line trailer.
The two best choices this weekend are animated: Mamoru Hosoda’s The Boy and the Beast has won awards around the world and is nominated for still more of them. I can not wait to see this one, and would have already declared it the must see film for the weekend were it not for Zootopia. Some reviewers are saying this is the best animation to come out of Disney in decades, and the quality shown in the trailer certainly makes me think they could be right. Let’s face it, I am going to have to see both movies this weekend; decision made!
Of the few Western genre offerings this week, Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales definitely looks like the best choice, with Don Verdean coming in both second and last. Sadly, that is all I can find from Western TV and Movies.
Anime fares a little better, but only a little. Wizard Barristers: Complete Collection tells what it is like to defend the magically inclined criminal elements of society, while trying to get the innocent released. I do have to say, the barrister’s familiars set a tone I was not expecting in this one. Death Note is a re-release of a classic, in 2 formats. The Complete Series includes all the TV series. The Omega Edition includes the TV series plus the 2 Re-Light movies. It would be nice if you could get the Live Action TV shows and Movies bundled with the anime ones, but so far that does not seem to be an option.
Aardman Animations of Wallace and Gromit fame have put together their first VR presentation, Special Delivery. It was made for Google Spotlight Stories, who made this into one of their presentations and translated it into an app for Android and IOS Google Cardboard phones. Much like their Shaun the Sheep TV and Film programs this Pink Panther-like video doesn’t bother with words, but creates its humor from the visuals. This is WAY cooler in the 360 degree VR environment of a Cardboard headset, and even just an Android or Apple phone without the headset allows you to interactively change what you see by turning which way the phone faces. But even the flat version you can see on a desktop or laptop running Firefox or Chrome is fun and gives you an idea about what is going on. The second video gives you a peek behind the curtain with a making-of.
Identicals sounds like something from the mind of Philip K. Dick, with a series of near identical people taking over each others lives and leaving dead bodies in their wake, but it is written and directed by Simon Pummell. It has been making the Film Festival rounds for the last year, and will get a wide release in Theaters, VOD, and Digital on March 25th, with DVDs coming out the following week.
The Jungle Book Big Game Trailer gives you an idea of where they are going with this latest iteration of Kipling’s masterpiece as well as a glimpse of the merged Live Action/CGI environment they will be building it in. Come April 15, I hope to be in the theaters for this one.